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Collection Development Policy

Introduction and Background
Handley Regional Library is a regional facility serving the city of Winchester and the counties of Clarke and Frederick. The Library acquires and makes available a wide variety of popular and informational materials to meet the intellectual, educational, social, cultural, recreational, and community information needs of the people of the area. In addition, the Library houses and provides access to a variety of materials relating to the history of the lower Shenandoah Valley.

The Library is governed by a ten-member Board appointed by the governing bodies of the three jurisdictions served. The Board is responsible for setting policies and for management oversight. The Board also sets the roles that the Library serves, guiding the overall collection development policy. Operational management is delegated to the Director, who is appointed by and reports to the Board.

Statement of Philosophy
Handley Regional Library seeks to serve impartially all members of its community, and to strive for excellence and balance, both in its collections and in its services. To this end, it maintains a core collection that is current, balanced, and representative of the interests of the public, including materials that are timely and those that have withstood the test of time. Materials for children and teenagers are intended to broaden their vision, support recreational reading, encourage and facilitate reading skills, supplement their educational needs, stimulate and widen their interests, lead to recognition and appreciation of literature, and reflect the diversity of the community. The reading and viewing activity of children is ultimately the responsibility of parents, who guide and oversee their own children's development. The Handley Regional Library does not intrude on that relationship.

Mission
Handley Regional Library provides our community access to the best resources that educate, inform, entertain, and inspire.

Purpose of Collection Development Policy
This document outlines the philosophy and policies for collection development and management at Handley Regional Library. The purpose of the collection development policy is to assure that the mission, goals, and objectives of the Library are reflected in the collections of the Library, and that the policies and procedures by which the Library's collections are shaped are clearly stated and understandable to the public, the staff, the Board and other interested parties.

The Collection Development Policy ensures that the Handley Regional Library collection will remain on course, reflecting the needs of our communities, while creating unique experiences of meaning and inspiration for the individual customer.

Responsibility
The responsibility for selecting materials for the collection rests legally with the governing body of the Library—the Library Board. The Board has delegated selection to the professional staff of the Library, which thereby becomes responsible for the development of the collection on a day-by-day basis.

Selection Criteria
In general, materials are selected for the collection on the basis of value, demand, need, format, and availability. Selections are made on the basis of reviews in recognized reviewing media whenever possible. The Handley Regional Library encourages input from the community concerning the collection. A suggestion procedure enables Library patrons to request that a particular item be purchased by the Library. All suggestions for purchase are subject to the same selection criteria as other materials and are not automatically added to the collection. Purchase requests help the Library develop collections which serve the interests and needs of the community. Selectors are required to consider the relation of materials being selected to the existing collection. Balance is desired, both in types of material and points-of-view.

The following factors are considered in selecting materials for the collection:

Stewart Bell Jr. Archives
The Stewart Bell Jr. Archives is jointly operated by the Handley Regional Library and the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society. The Archives collects to the research level original and secondary materials in a variety of formats. This material is of a historical nature relating to Winchester and Frederick County and the bordering counties which were formed from Frederick County. People, events and places of the Winchester-Frederick County area from the 1730s to the present should be covered in a comprehensive manner. The Archives is also the repository of the Library’s institutional archives. The Stewart Bell Jr. Archives is a non-circulating reference collection of material that primarily reflects Winchester-Frederick County history, heritage, and cultural development. The Archives selectively accepts gifts of manuscripts, collections of papers, ephemera, photographs, maps, published materials and media, particularly when the material relates to Winchester-Frederick County and the Lower Shenandoah Valley.

Request for Reconsideration
The Library recognizes that differences of opinion may exist in the community about the validity and value of materials in the Library's collection. The Handley Regional Library selects material using established criteria and full consideration of the varying age groups and backgrounds of customers.

Formal procedures for review and reconsideration of materials are in place and available at each library for members of the community who wish to use them. The Handley Regional Library accepts and adheres to the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read and Freedom to View statements.

Gifts and Donations
Handley Regional Library accepts donations of material from patrons. The Library reserves the right to incorporate donated materials into its collection, to sell them in the Friends of the Library book sale, or to dispose of them as the staff sees fit. The Library will not accept donations if the donor places restrictions on the disposition of the material. The Library cannot place a monetary value on donated materials, as it is an interested party in the transaction. When a donor requests it, a receipt noting the amount of material accepted is given. Questions about how donations are received should be referred to the Library Director, the Adult Services Librarian, or the Executive Director of the Friends of the Handley Regional Library.

The Library does not normally accept donations of back issues of periodicals, although exceptions may be made for titles for which the Library has a specific need. Periodicals may be accepted for the book sale if the Executive Director of the Friends of the Handley Regional Library determines there is a good market for the title being offered.

Free materials such as newsletters will be accepted under the same conditions as other gifts and donations, and their acceptance is based upon the needs of the Library.

Weeding
In order to maintain an up-to-date, useful collection, materials are regularly weeded from the collection. Materials withdrawn from the library collections may be given away to the Friends of the Handley Regional Library, other libraries or agencies, sold, recycled, discarded. Generally, items may be withdrawn and discarded for the following reasons:

Items are out of date, that is, no longer timely or accurate.
Items are badly worn or damaged and cannot be rebound or mended, or it is more economical to replace them.
Items were once popular but are no longer used.
Space considerations.